Salim Lakha

Negotiating the Transnational Workplace: Indian Computer Professionals in Australia

Academics and journalists have responded in various ways to the recent influx of Indian computer professionals into Australia. Though references to their inflow on temporary visas are frequent, there is as yet no attempt to examine in detail their experiences in the workplace. This paper considers the workplace experiences of Indian computer professionals in Melbourne in the context of the discussion on transnational social spaces. It deals with a specific case study involving employees from an Indian subsidiary of an Australian financial institution who work here on temporary visas. The paper looks at three areas of their professional lives: communication, relations with co-workers and satisfaction in the workplace. It reveals that their presence in the transnational workplace is marked by contested identity, concerns about security of employment and different understandings of what constitutes effective communication. The paper demonstrates that the emergence of transnational social spaces has complex and contradictory outcomes.

Indian Identity in Multicultural Melbourne. Some preliminary observations

Indians have a long history of travel connected with trade and pilgrimage. Substantial Indian migration is historically a phenomenon linked to European colonisation, the plantation economy, and the expansion of colonial capitalism. Although the arrival of Indians in Australia can be traced to the early part of the countrys settlement by Europeans, large-scale Indian immigration to this country is a post-colonial, late twentieth century phenomenon which is partly associated with globalisation. The Indian community in Australia is small, and the bulk of it is of more recent origin compared to the Indian communities settled in Britain, Canada and USA. Despite its small size here, it has a high social and economic profile in terms of educational attainment and the level of income. Melbournes Indian population, which is the second largest in Australia, includes an extensive network of community associations and other institutions. This paper explores the expression of Indian identity in a modern, multicultural city where the Indian presence is increasingly evident through its participation in the workforce as well as the proliferation of Indian restaurants and specialist shops. The paper questions the notion of a singular Indian identity, and instead highlights the process of diversification in a context where there are attempts to homogenise cultural identities. It argues that the official Australian discourse of multiculturalism often masks the heterogeneity of the cultures in question and that the idea of a unified culture cannot be sustained in the face of diversity. In examining some of these issues the paper strives to demonstrate how Indian identity in Melbourne is perceived, forged and experienced by Indians from different backgrounds.

From Swadeshi to globalisation: The Bharatiya Janata Party's shifting economic agenda

Introduction Prior to forming government at the Centre, the Bharatiya Janata Partry (hereafter BJP) espoused a nationalistic economic agenda that was highly critical of the externally-driven liberalisation of the Indian economy which it equated with globalisation. The agents of globalisation, which included international economic organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (hereafter IMF), the World Bank, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (hereafter GATT), and transnational corporations (hereafter TNCs), were viewed with considerable suspicion. They were also berated for foisting policies on India that undermined its national sovereignty and contributed to economic difficulties for the mass of the population. Instead of external economic liberalisation, the BJP emphasised the promotion of swadeshi, small-scale industries, internal economic liberalisation and the philosophy of Integral Humanism.

Balancing Democracy and Globalisation: The Role of the State in Poverty Alleviation in India

Contemporary globalisation is viewed both as offering immense opportunities and posing a fundamental threat to the nation-state and democratic governance. To the proponents of globalisation, integration into the world economy through liberalisation of foreign trade and capital flows, combined with deregulation of the national economy, promises greater economic efficiency, higher consumption levels and generally improved living standards. For them, state intervention in the economy aimed at restricting the free play of market forces is dysfunctional, resulting in lower social and economic benefits for the population at large. Within this optimistic perspective, globalisation is thought likely to ‘flatten’ economic differences between nations and lead to a ‘borderless world’, where the barriers to flows of capital, technology, and information will be minimised if not totally removed.

How Effective are Social Audits under MGNREGS? Lessons from Karnataka

This case study on social audits under MGNREGS in Karnataka aims to provide suggestions on how to improve the design and implementation of social audits in the state. With the help of the primary data collected from five grama panchayats in Chitradurga district, the paper argues that although the documentary evidence shows that social audits are conducted they do not fulfil the main objective of engaging the beneficiaries of the scheme and making the scheme effective. Social audit process is compromised by the influence wielded by village elites which results in the exclusion of poor labourers for whom the scheme is primarily meant. The social audit process could be made more participatory by ensuring that it is conducted in an impartial manner.

Collusion, Co-option and Capture: Social Accountability and Social Audits in Karnataka, India

The concept of accountability has generated extensive discussion in studies of international development, linking it with good governance, democratisation, participatory development and empowerment. Indias national rural employment guarantee scheme, which aims to improve the rural infrastructure and reduce poverty by providing wage work to the rural poor, involves mandatory social audit by the beneficiaries of the scheme, in order to ensure accountability of those implementing the scheme. In this paper, we examine the social audit process in a district in the state of Karnataka to ascertain the role played by the beneficiaries in achieving such accountability. We find that Vigilance and Monitoring Committees, entrusted to spearhead the social audit process in villages, consist mainly of males and cultivators, some of whom are large landowners. We also find that social audits are dominated by the local elite who stifle “voices” from below.

Democracy, Governance and Civil Society: Rethinking the Study of Contemporary India

In 2007 India celebrated its sixtieth year of independence. As this multicultural state of a billion plus citizens picks up economic pace at the start of the twenty-first century, international sce...

Professional Elitism or Community Control? the Manila Housing Competition

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